


the ballad of the western king

by i_was_human



Series: forged from flame [2]
Category: Lost in Translation (Webcomic)
Genre: Angst, Betrayal, Dragon Riders, Gen, Kings & Queens, Music, Post-Betrayal, no beta we die like sungmin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:00:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27155600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_was_human/pseuds/i_was_human
Summary: The story of the Western King has always had a fixed ending, and to think it could change is folly.or: this story could only end one way, in the end.
Relationships: Ahn Jaewon | Wyld & Kang Dongho | D.Min & Kim Daehyun & Lee Minsoo, Kang Dongho | D.Min & Lee Minsoo
Series: forged from flame [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1981847
Comments: 3
Kudos: 10





	the ballad of the western king

There's no sound on the battlefield.

Minsoo grips the handle of his sword, shoulders shaking with a combination of fury and grief, and his enemy stares at him, dark eyes empty.

"How... how could you?"

And _oh_ , the man staring back at him looks nothing even close to human, his crown slanted on his head and any trace of warmth gone from his eyes. 

_"People build lies about other kingdoms to justify their hatred."_

" _Answer me_!"

"Get out of my way."

"Fucking _answer me_ , you traitor!"

The man tilts his head, expression never wavering, and _oh_ , this is the man who slaughtered Daehyun's friends, this is the man who burned Jaewon's home to the ground and picked up his crown.

And yet this is also the man who looked at Minsoo's flowers with awe, the same man who watched the sun rise with an expression of pure delight and who loves fish and who promised to fight besides them to the end-

but he lied, didn't he?

"You can't have the North," Minsoo spits, dropping into a crouch and angling his sword at the man. "I won't let you."

Dongho stares at him, violet eyes emotionless and Jaewon's blood-stained crown askew on his head, and in that moment, Minsoo makes a choice.

No matter what it takes, he's going to make this man pay.

He charges forwards with a scream, and in that instant, he's not attacking the man who loves flowers and sunrises and fish and promised to be by his side.

He's attacking the man who wants to destroy the world.

Their swords clash inches from Dongho's face, and both armies surge forwards, though none of them interfere in this fight.

Minsoo's glad.

Dongho's the only one who deserves to die today.

"Get out of my way," Dongho simply states, and Minsoo only presses harder, hands trembling as the sword inches towards his former friend's face. 

"How _could you_?" he spits, fingers white-knuckled around the hilt. "I _trusted you_! We were _friends_!"

"It doesn't matter," Dongho replies, and Minsoo screams, twisting around to drive his blade into Dongho's side. 

The elder twists out of the way, fur-lined cloak brushing against the snow, and Minsoo stares at him - at the trappings of royalty and conquest - and charges forwards, a primal scream tearing its way from his throat.

* * *

There's no sound in the endless cavern.

Nobody speaks. Nobody coughs or sneezes or cries, nobody dares to make a sound lest the endless winter come in and swallow them whole.

It's an achingly present threat.

Daehyun leans against the wall, shivering even under the blanket, and Jaewon's head rests on his shoulders, dried tear tracks staining his cheeks and crimson hair seeming all-too washed-out in the dim light. It's painful - being up in the North like this, being here outside the comforts of Minsoo's silver palace - but it's a course of events they can't control.

~~_Dongho staring at him, backlit by the flames consuming Daehyun's home, and oh, those eyes are so, so cold-_ ~~

No.

What's done is done.

He stares down at the charred guitar laying at his side - the guitar that's sung songs to the moon and the water and the fish and the endless reefs - and he picks it up, strumming experimentally before he starts to sing. 

_"Oh, can you tell me a story?  
_ _A story they told long ago,  
Of brilliant skies and shining seas  
And waves that ebb and flow..."_

Miles away, hundreds of bodies bleed out onto the snow.

 _"Oh, can you tell me a story?  
_ _A story they dreamed would last,  
_ _Of love and loss and dreams and frost  
_ _And everything left in the past..."_

Minsoo leans on his sword, one hand pressed to his side to stem the bleeding.

_"There once was a boy named Wren  
Who dreamed of a world all his own.  
He searched fields and hills and lakes and skies  
And further still did he roam."_

Dongho stares at him, eyes flecks of coal, and as Minsoo searches his gaze, he sees there's no mercy to be found.

 _"Along the way, he made some friends,  
_ _Nichta and Erwin and Shay,  
_ _And the four of them built a home  
_ _And evermore would they stay."_

"...did our promise really mean that little to you?"

 _"But after some time, Wren grew cold  
_ _Sick of the darkness and hate.  
_ _So he put on his armor and unsheathed his sword  
_ _Ready to ride t'wards his fate."_

"..."

 _"He tore down South's castles and ripped up East's silks  
_ _And rode towards the northernmost winds.  
_ _Ready to fight or ready to die  
_ _As only one man could win."_

"Did all you promised mean nothing?"

 _"And when he met Nichta alone at last  
_ _He had but one thing to say.  
_ _'Do you regret what you've done, my friend  
_ _to your home and Erwin and Shay?'"_

"Was all of it meaningless?"

 _"But Wren had hardened his heart and soul  
_ _And the North's pleas fell on deaf ears  
_ _He charged towards the elder to meet his fate  
_ _with the force of his hatred and fear."_

"..."

 _"So Nichta struck him down in the snow  
_ _Left him alone to his grave_  
 _And in the end, Wren died alone  
_ _A man nobody could save."_

The last note rings through the cave, and Daehyun's fingers still on the frets, his head drooping as his hair eclipses his eyes.

He doesn't need to ask to know what'll happen to Dongho. 

History has always been the best teacher, after all.

* * *

When Minsoo returns, there's blood on his sword.

His crown sits crooked on his head, and he collapses into a seat by the door, withdrawing a torn rag and starting to scrub.

Daehyun doesn't ask what happened.

The blood on his blade and the grief in his eyes say enough.

After all-

the story of the Western King always seems to have a fixed ending, and they were fools for daring to think otherwise. 

So Daehyun starts to strum his guitar once more, humming an old Southern melody as he goes, and he tries to ignore the small hitches of Minsoo's shoulders as he cleans his blade, tries to ignore the tears dripping off his chin, tries to ignore what he already knows. 

(Dongho's never coming back.)

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote the ballad of the western king myself pls be kind TT-TT
> 
> comments fuel me!!!! pls leave comments it makes me more likely to update o3o
> 
> [twit](https://twitter.com/i_was_human_) | [lit fic discord!](https://discord.gg/CNunB74)


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